{"id":117477,"date":"2024-12-03T21:52:37","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T21:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/south-koreas-president-says-he-will-lift-martial-law-after-order-sparks-fury-sky-news\/"},"modified":"2024-12-03T21:52:37","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T21:52:37","slug":"south-koreas-president-says-he-will-lift-martial-law-after-order-sparks-fury-sky-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/south-koreas-president-says-he-will-lift-martial-law-after-order-sparks-fury-sky-news\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea's president says he will lift martial law after order sparks fury – Sky News"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Korea’s president declares martial law across the country in a surprise address, accusing the opposition of controlling the parliament and sympathising with North Korea. The country’s parliament has voted to defy the move – with the leader’s own party urging him to reverse it.
Tuesday 3 December 2024 21:45, UK
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More details are coming through now on the South Korean president’s televised statement earlier where he announced he would lift martial law. 
Yoon Suk Yeol doubled down on his remarks that he had declared martial law to “protect the country from anti-state forces”, accusing them of trying to “paralyse the essential functions of the state”. 
He said he would withdraw military forces after South Korea’s parliament demanded that martial law be lifted. 
“However, I request that the parliament immediately ceases the reckless actions that are paralysing the functions of the state, such as repeated impeachment, legislative manipulation, and budget manipulation,” he said. 
For context, Yoon has been embroiled in controversy and has become deeply unpopular in South Korea. 
Opposition parties have been pushing for investigations into the first lady for alleged corruption, and there has also been a political impasse over next year’s budget bill. 
By Dominic Waghorn<\/a>, international affairs editor<\/b>
People power appears to have prevailed in South Korea, defanging a last ditch attempt by a beleaguered lame duck president to declare martial law.
President Yoon’s gambit has backfired spectacularly. His bombshell announcement late at night led not to a swift imposition of military rule, but instead galvanised popular opposition.
Protesters raced to the country’s parliament, allowing MPs inside to vote to overturn the rogue president’s martial law plan.  There was a tense standoff between protesters and police but no violence.
The swift response seized the initiative from the president who was left with little option but to back down. He now faces investigation by his political opponents, along with his minister for national defence who they say was also complicit.
Yoon may be familiar to some from a viral video showing him crooning American Pie in a soft soothing baritone in an impromptu performance in the White House.
He was not a conventional political performer and has been embroiled in deepening political difficulty since his party lost its parliamentary majority in this year’s elections.
He is now in a world of political pain as he prepares to pay the price for his extraordinarily rash move.
South Korea itself emerges from the episode with less to worry about. It may have been unnerving, but the constitution, the parliament and the people appear to have weathered the storm and risen to the moment.
South Korea’s democracy has been tested and proven resilient in an unprecedentedly challenging few hours.
We can now bring you footage of the South Korean opposition leader speaking from the National Assembly earlier after politicians voted against martial law. 
Lee Jae-myung, who was speaking before the president agreed to lift the measure, said the martial law declaration was “illegal” and “unconstitutional”. 
Our US correspondent Mark Stone<\/a><\/b> says State Department officials will now be asking questions of their embassy in Seoul. 
He says the martial law declaration was “unprecedented” and “took everyone by surprise” – something that was made clear by the State Department’s spokesperson “treading water” while taking questions from reporters a few hours ago. 
The spokesperson had said the US was watching events in South Korea with “grave concern”. 
“Diplomats don’t use that language unless they are genuinely rattled by what is going on,” Stone says. 
He points out that South Korea is a key ally of the US. 
Nearly 30,000 American troops are based there and almost 50,000 US citizens live in South Korea. 
Seoul’s allies will now be asking what the president was up to when he declared martial law. 
“Was this the final throw of the dice by a lame duck president embroiled in corruption or was something deeper afoot?” asks Stone. 
This is just a formality at this point, but the cabinet has agreed to lift the martial law. 
President Yoon Suk Yeol – who imposed the measure – earlier said he would lift it after accepting the vote of South Korea’s parliament. 
Officials have started removing the makeshift barricades at the entrance of the parliament building. 
Parliamentary staff earlier used furniture to block the entrance so that police and soldiers could not enter while politicians were voting to block the martial law. 
Furniture was also found piled up behind a door which was damaged when military forces broke into the building. 
The leader of South Korea’s ruling party has called on the president to explain his decision to impose martial law. 
Han Dong-hoon, who leads the president’s own People’s Power Party, urged the president to “personally and thoroughly explain this dire situation in detail”. 
He also called for the defence minister, who proposed the martial law, to be sacked and others responsible to be “held strictly accountable”. 
“As the ruling party, we will do everything within our power to minimise economic and diplomatic damage,” he said. 
This will include convening an emergency leadership meeting and a general assembly, as well as investigating the “full circumstances” around the incident. 
A college student who joined the protests outside the parliament building in Seoul today has said he wanted to stop the “oppression of freedom of speech”. 
Young Hoon told Sky News that those who gathered to protest believe President Yoon Suk Yeol is “the fraud and the oppressor of the freedom of speech”. 
He added that he is “very proud” of those who came out to protest after the president agreed to overturn the martial law declaration. 
We’re hearing now from our international correspondent Diana Magnay<\/a><\/b>, who says the South Korean president “clearly buckled under pressure”.
That pressure was coming from South Koreans on the streets, parliamentarians and likely allies across the world, she says. 
Seoul’s allies were most probably trying to encourage the president to resolve the situation in accordance with the law after the parliament voted to block martial law, Magnay says. 
The last “febrile few hours” would have put a “very democratically enthused army into a very difficult situation” as troops would have been unsure of whether to follow their president or their parliament. 
South Korean president has said he will lift martial law, hours after the country’s parliament voted to block the measure.
In a national address, Yoon Suk Yeol said: “I have accepted decision made by the National Assembly to dissolve and lift the martial law.”
He had earlier announced he would impose martial law in a shock move that angered the rest of parliament – including members of his own ruling party – sparked major protests and prompted widespread international concern.<\/p>\n

Members of parliament then headed to the parliament building to vote against the measure, urging the president to then formally revoke it. 
He now appears to have relented – after his own party urged him to lift the order.
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Install the Sky News app for free<\/p>\n

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